Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group opened a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter, buying 130,557 shares valued at about $7.85 million.
• Several other institutional investors also increased their stakes, and institutions now own 86.44% of Williams Companies’ shares.
• Analysts remain upbeat on the stock: the consensus rating is Buy with an average target price of $81, while Williams recently beat quarterly EPS estimates and declared a $0.525 quarterly dividend.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 130,557 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $7,848,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.1% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,540,556 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $287,644,000 after buying an additional 134,777 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 184,123 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $11,664,000 after purchasing an additional 16,027 shares in the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,627,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 75.9% during the 3rd quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 125,290 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,937,000 after purchasing an additional 54,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3,344.8% during the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 17,465 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 16,958 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. This represents a 8.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 117,869 shares of company stock worth $8,814,067 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Truist Financial started coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Williams Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $81.00.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $78.41 on Monday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $73.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.51. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.82 and a 52-week high of $80.07. The firm has a market cap of $95.78 billion, a PE ratio of 34.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies's revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.11%.

Williams Companies Profile

Williams Companies, Inc NYSE: WMB is a U.S.-based energy infrastructure company focused on the midstream segment of the natural gas value chain. The company develops, owns and operates assets that gather, process, transport and store natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations support the movement of gas from production areas to end users including utilities, power generators, industrial customers and export facilities.

Williams’s product and service offering includes interstate and intrastate pipeline transmission, gas-gathering systems, processing facilities that remove impurities and separate NGLs, storage services and fractionation and transportation of NGL products.

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